The Coming Out Party
by greymind
Summary: All chapters are posted...Cristina's introduction to Seattle society. Includes Cristina, Burke, Sheppards, Webbers, and a tiny bit of Mer. This story is already posted on the More Than Coffee board.
1. Chapter 1

Meredith is sitting on her couch flipping through a magazine when she hears the phone ring. She laughs when she sees the number come up on her cell phone and answers with an admonishing tone "What are you doing?"

"Hey you're the supportive one in this relationship remember!" Cristina's standing by the hotel concierge desk on her cell phone

Ignoring Cristina's comment and knowing the answer to her next question Meredith asks anyway "Where are you?"

"The hotel lobby" Cristina suspiciously looks around and lowers her voice "I don't think tonight is a good idea"

Meredith lowers her voice to match Cristina's "Since you are standing in the hotel lobby all dressed up I think it is safe to say that it is no longer an idea. It is a reality. Anyway didn't we already have this conversation at the hospital – twice?"

Cristina sounds annoyed "Mer, why are you whispering?"

Meredith's voice returns to normal "Cristina you look fantastic and your handsome boyfriend is waiting in a tuxedo to show you off to the bluebloods of Seattle. I am not seeing the problem here."

"I should have come with Burke. It was crazy to meet him here."

"You're the one who had to scrub in on one last procedure. Burke's inside waiting for you right now. All you have to do is walk in. It's a fundraiser. People are feeling happy and generous."

"There are a lot of people here." Cristina is scanning the room looking for a friendly face "I could leave. Nobody's even seen me yet."

"Why are you so nervous? I'm sure you've been to a lot of fancy events."

Cristina is now standing by a stairwell leaning against a wall "Enough to know that everybody's eye is on the lookout for the girl that's sleeping with the boss."

"That's not true."

Cristina is not buying it "Uhhuh"

"Okay it might be true but Burke doesn't care. The Chief doesn't care. He's not your boss he is the man you are sharing your life with and you're not his intern you're the woman he is sharing his life with."

Cristina chuckles "Tell me that you're just visiting Fantasyland and not moving there permanently."

"You're not going to sneak out the backdoor are you?"

"No"

"Good"

"I always have enough self-respect to use the front door." 

"Cristina! Fine, just remember if you run away Burke will go after you and you will be responsible for him missing the whole benefit."

"Goodbye" Cristina hangs up before Meredith can say anything else and walks into the bathroom. Meredith went back to flipping through her magazine smiling thinking how few things shook Cristina up the way Burke did.

**Hotel Ladies Room**

Ten minutes later Cristina is still in the ladies room giving herself a pep talk when she hears the door open. She knows that Burke loves her and that their relationship is okay but she doesn't want anyone to think badly of him or her for that matter. She remembers what high society can be like and it's not always so friendly. It can be downright cutthroat.

A female voice interrupts Cristina's self talk "So I hear that Preston's toy will be here tonight."

"Really? The intern? Can't wait to see what she looks like. Unbelievable."

"Preston Burke has been on Seattle's most eligible list for years. I can't believe that he's settling for an intern. I tried to date him a couple of years ago but clearly he was not ready to settle down."

"Well half of that room is keeping their eye out for her. I hear she tried to trap him by getting pregnant but thankfully lost the baby." Cristina's heart sank. Maybe she'd use the backdoor after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

"Poor girl. She's probably never even been in a hotel like this. I hope he at least helped picked out her dress so she doesn't show up in a trash bag."

"I am sure that he is just using her for sex until he's tired of her or finds something new to pay attention to."

"How can she even show her face here tonight? Doesn't she have any self respect? Using her body to get ahead. How distasteful?"

"Yes, I heard that she barely got into the program at Seattle Grace."

Cristina's face is feeling hot. Not being able to listen to them any longer she comes out of the bathroom stall.

The two women stop to notice Cristina "Oh, we didn't realize anyone else was in here. Wow, that dress is stunning!"

Cristina smiles "Thank you."

"I'm Elizabeth Riley, chairperson for this event, and this is my friend Barbara Leonard." They extend their hand to shake Cristina's who is touching up her makeup "I'm sorry if you got the wrong impression from our chatter. Girlfriends and gossip…you know how it is" Elizabeth chuckles and Cristina continues looking in the mirror "Sometimes at these events, you unfortunately have a mix of people from different levels of society. Not like the three of us and we inevitably have questions about their…intentions. Now I don't think we've met before. You are?"

Cristina pauses for a moment pretending to look at herself in the mirror while crafting an appropriate response "Dr. Cristina Yang but if you are more comfortable you can continue to refer to me as Preston Burke's toy."

Cristina continues to primp as the two women stand there for a moment with their mouths open not sure what they should do.

"Awkward isn't it? Well, how about I just lay out my resume for you and you can feel free to pass along whichever pieces appall you the most. Grew up in Beverly Hills, stepfather is the President of the American Association of Orthodontists, my debutante ball was attended by the governor of California and I am fluent in Korean and French."

Cristina had struggled growing up with the idea of privilege and people's perceptions of her. She had seen her mother use her wealth and status time and again in an attempt to gain respect and accomplish things. She had vowed a long time ago not to use her privilege to get ahead so that she would always know that she earned things not that they were given to her because of her name or wealth. At this moment, though, the words rolling off Cristina's tongue were all instinct.

Adele Webber and Addison Sheppard walked in as Cristina was talking. The other two women looked frozen and Cristina continued making her point.

"Last I checked I used my brain to graduate first in my class at Smith and Stanford and get into the program at Seattle Grace while turning down an offer from Harvard. As far as being comfortable in this room, $1000 plate dinners are more my speed but this is nice too. And this trash bag courtesy of Valentino."

Adele grinning interrupts "Elizabeth, Barbara I see you have met Preston's girlfriend. Cristina, Preston's been looking for you."

"I was delayed at the hospital and was just finishing in here. A little bit of advice…first rule they teach debutantes about bathroom gossip – check the stalls. It's just a little finishing school trick that might come in handy." The two women walk away and are barely out the door before an embarrassed Cristina is trying to explain herself to Adele and Addison.

"Look, I know that was wrong but they called me Burke's toy."

"It's okay Cristina. They're two of the biggest gossips. Nice work." The three women start to laugh.


	3. Chapter 3

**Main ballroom**

Derek and Richard are standing by the bar talking to a distracted Burke about new OR technology. Burke had spent the past 30 minutes watching the clock waiting for Cristina to arrive. She had called him to say that Sheppard was letting her scrub in on a craniotomy and that she would meet him at the hotel. He was okay with this because he knew that she had not gotten many surgeries this week and although craniotomies were not her favorite she wouldn't let the opportunity go to another intern. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that Sheppard had arrived 1 hour ago and Cristina had still not made it to the hotel yet. Over the past 10 minutes he had convinced himself that she'd gotten cold feet and was sitting at Joe's with Meredith. He knew that she felt uneasy about attending the fundraiser with him. If he remembered correctly her exact words were that she "didn't need to torture herself by getting all dressed up just to be gawked at by a bunch of people who thought that they were the best Seattle had to offer." He had told her he thought that she was being irrational but deep down knew that part of what she said was true. People were curious about the intern who had taken Preston Burke off the market. Burke's thoughts were interrupted when he saw Adele and Addison coming towards him laughing.

"Preston, what did you think about the robotic arm when you tried it out?" Richard stood in front of him patiently waiting for a response.

Silence

The Chief reaches over and taps Burke's elbow "Preston, are you listening?"

"Wow!" He was definitely not listening and didn't take his eyes off of Cristina as she approached them wearing a sexy white dress, her hair straightened and pulled back off her face with a beautiful flower in it. He rarely saw her looking so polished and he was surprised that he could find her any more beautiful than he did when she woke up in the morning.

Richard and Derek quickly turn around to see what has captured Burke's attention and are greeted by Addison, Adele and Cristina.

Derek is grinning "You're back. We thought you ladies found new dates."

"No we struck out but we did find Cristina making friends in the bathroom." Addison took a sip of Derek's drink.

"Hey" Cristina looks Burke up and down taking in how good he looks in his tuxedo. She always thought he was handsome but seeing him left her breathless for a moment  
"Dr. Sheppard, Dr. Webber" As a nervous habit, she pushed an imaginary piece of hair off of her face.

Derek tries to put her at ease and set the tone for the evening "Cristina we're not working tonight. We can use first names." Cristina smiles as she is trying unsuccessfully to ignore Burke's gaze.

Burke takes a step closer to Cristina "So this is what took you so long, huh? Derek's been here for an hour."

Cocking her head she asks "Wasn't I worth the wait?"

"Of course" He could've sworn that her eyes were dancing.

"Nice tux." Burke just smiled a sexy smile placing his hand on Cristina's lower back and for a moment they were alone in the room. The Sheppards and Webbers stood with the couple catching a rare glimpse into the intimacy of their relationship.

Adele's voice pulled the couple back into the real world "Preston, you'd be proud. Your girlfriend just passed a little Seattle society initiation." Cristina for a split second felt a twinge of discomfort listening to Adele refer to her for the second time tonight as Burke's girlfriend but that passed as he squeezed her back a little tighter prompting a shy smile.

Addison continued proudly "Yes, Cristina certainly proved why Seattle's most eligible bachelor scooped her up."

Derek and Richard are confused. Burke is both proud and concerned "What's that all about?"

"Nothing important. Where's the bar in this place?" Cristina gives a knowing glance to Adele and Addison as she and Burke walk away his arm still wrapped around her waist.

As they walk across the room to the bar, Cristina swears she can feel a hundred pairs of gossiping eyes on her. Burke interrupts her obsessing by leaning down and whispering in her ear "Hmmm. Did I mention that you were definitely worth the wait? You look breathtaking." He brushes his hand against her face and kisses her softly.


	4. Chapter 4

The fundraiser was in full swing and they would be seated for dinner shortly. Cristina was shocked that she was enjoying herself. It had been a long time since she'd been to any kind of event like this and usually she hated them finding herself a nice spot at the bar doing serious people watching or, more accurately, people bashing. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was different about tonight but she had her suspicions that it had something to do with her date. Burke had introduced her to what felt like everyone in the room while at the same time making her feel like she really was the most important person in that room. Although she still felt a twinge of uneasiness, she felt that the two of them maintained a very comfortable rhythm as they worked the social circuit.

Cristina notices Burke stop the couple walking past him and readies herself for another introduction "Cristina I'd like to introduce you to Elizabeth and Ben Riley. Ben is the Chief of Surgery at Mercy and Elizabeth is the mastermind behind this amazing benefit."

Ben smiles warmly "Hello Cristina. It's nice to finally meet you. Preston and I sit on an ethics committee together and he's told me a lot about you." Cristina doesn't have time to speak or take a step back as Ben leans over a little too close to talk to her "You've made this man very happy." Cristina can't help but smile and wonder why such a kind man is with such an evil wife.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ben. Your wife and I actually met earlier in the ladies room."  
The reference to the ladies room and Elizabeth's uncomfortable look does not go unnoticed by Burke. He had never really cared for Elizabeth and now he felt anger as he began to realize that she was the person who provided Cristina with her initiation that evening.

"Elizabeth, you should have mentioned that when I was asking about Cristina earlier." 

Elizabeth tries to answer quickly "Ben, there's so much going on I can't possibly be expected to remember everything."

"Cristina, Preston tells me that you've got quite the fiery personality and I wanted to meet you before the event got in full swing so we'd have time to talk a bit."

Cristina is enjoying that her hostess is feeling awkward and that Burke describes her to people as fiery. She always pictured him describing her as difficult but she liked fiery much better.

Cristina forces herself to be cordial for Burke's sake "Elizabeth, it really is a beautiful event. Preston and I…" Burke looks at Cristina, raising his brow suspiciously at this uncharacteristic use of his first name "…are having a wonderful time." Cristina barely glances at Burke knowing that he was not expecting that and he stands there grinning at this little exchange.

"Thank you. Ben we should really go over and speak with the Martins." Elizabeth is trying her best to remove herself from Cristina's company.

Ignoring his wife and the tension between the two women, Ben continues to engage Cristina "Cristina you're originally from California, right? Beverly Hills I believe."

"Yes and I've lived out East but Seattle is much more my speed. I find the people to be much more straightforward. It's refreshing." Cristina looks at Elizabeth as she finishes her sentence.

Ben looks at Cristina for a moment "Yes, it's nice to have that experience but I have found it to be too infrequent even here. Oh there is Dr. Anton Moliere. Preston and Cristina, come with me and I will introduce you. He is the French Preston Burke." At that moment, Cristina would've sworn that she saw Preston Burke blush. 

Elizabeth interrupts her husband "He travels with an assistant, Henri Duvall, who doubles as a translator when needed. His preference is to speak French but his English is very good. It's quite the coup that we were able to get him to come tonight. He leaves early tomorrow morning. I can't wait to speak with him during dinner."

As they walked the short distance to where Anton and Henri were standing with Addison, Derek, and a few people she didn't know, Cristina quickly wrapped her arm around Burke's "Two Preston Burkes…that might be more than I can handle." Her handsome date just shook his head trying not to laugh.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Anton, Henri this is Dr. Preston Burke and Dr. Cristina Yang, they are surgeons at Seattle Grace. Cristina is a surgical intern and Preston is their top cardio-thoracic surgeon. I've been trying to steal him away from Seattle Grace for years."

Anton looked at the couple for a moment, his gaze lingering a moment too long on Cristina for Burke's comfort. After a moment, Anton says hello in a heavy French accent, shaking Burke's hand then kissing Cristina's.

Derek is amused witnessing this brief interaction, grinning at Burke as Addison remarks "He didn't kiss my hand."

Sizing Anton up, Cristina couldn't help but notice how hot he was. Nice eyes, nice hands, nice butt around the same age as Burke and a heart surgeon. He really was the French Burke.

Not liking what he is seeing from Anton or Cristina, Burke maintains a formal demeanor "Hello Dr. Moliere, Mr. Duvall. I've heard great things about your procedures

Dr. Moliere."

Anton cheerfully replies "Merci Preston. First names please we are colleagues. I was just discussing with Derek and Addison a recent surgery involving conjoined twins in Amsterdam. I have heard good things about you as well but know nothing about your beautiful companion."

"Hello Preston. Cristina" Henri looks at Cristina.

Cristina smiles "Bonjour Anton et Henri. Vous sont comment. Agréable pour vous rencontrer." _(translation: Hello Anton and Henri. It is a pleasure to meet you.)_

Burke glances at Cristina, marveling at the fact that she would try to turn anything into a competition. He had to admit that he was impressed she would risk throwing out the little bit of French she knew but hoped she wasn't starting something that would result in her feeling embarrassed because she couldn't keep up. He knew she'd studied French in college but that was awhile ago and there were few things Cristina Yang hated more than not being able to keep up.

"C'est un plaisir pour vous rencontrer aussi!" _(translation: It is a pleasure to meet you as well!)._ The words leapt out of their mouths. So excited they were to have an American to speak French with.

Anton, remembering to be respectful of his hosts, speaks in English "You speak French so I know that you are smart as well as beautiful."

Witnessing this interaction, the Sheppards exchange amused glances with each other, Elizabeth Riley is visibly angry that Cristina was indeed fluent in french, and Ben Riley has a silly grin on his face as he enjoys his drink.

Cristina returns his smile well aware that she has just stunned the small crowd including Burke then continues in French "Merci. Est-ceci votre première visite à Seattle ?" _(translation: Thank you. Is this your first visit to Seattle?)._

Anton responds with a sexy look at Cristina "Non, mais clairement j'ai manqué les meilleures parties de la ville durent le temps. Vous parlez le très bon français." _(translation: No, second but obviously I missed the best parts on my first visit. You speak very good French.)_

"Merci!" _(translation: Thank you!)_

"Avez-vous étudié longtemps à l'étranger ?" _(translation: Did you study long abroad)._

At this point, Burke has moved on from being shocked at Cristina's bold use of her linguistic talents to quite clearly losing his patience.He takes a step closer to his date, positioning his tall frame just a bit straighter, placing his hand on the small of Cristina's back and keeping his eyes fixed on Anton.

Feeling Burke's hand on her back, Cristina is surprised that he is jealous "Oui. Deux années à l'étranger et un degré dans la littérature française." (translation: Yes, two years abroad and a degree in french literature.).

"Ahh, qui il explique! Je pense que votre ami est jaloux." (Translation: Ahh, that explains it! I think your boyfriend is jealous.).

Cristina is not wanting to give Anton's ego the satisfaction of acknowledging that he was right "C'est votre imagination. Il sait il y a de rien être jaloux de. Votre dernier article fascinait. Je me demande, cependant, qu'il est pratique pour utiliser un bras robotisé dans la plupart de pièces d'opération à cause de ce qu'est eu besoin de le soutenir." _(translation: It's your imagination. He knows there's nothing to be jealous of. Your latest article was fascinating. I wonder, though, how practical it is to use a robotic arm in most operating rooms because of what is needed to support it.)._

Henri looks at her amused "Donc sérieux vous êtes Cristina. Tout travail n'est pas bon pour vous. Ceci est un parti!" (translation: So serious you are Cristina. All work is not good for you. This is a party!).

Cristina starts to say something but Anton laughs and, again realizes that they are being rude to the others around them "I apologize for the French but it is so rare that we encounter an American who can speak our language as flawlessly as Cristina. So Preston, it seems the four of us have much to talk about in English of course. First, though, I must steal one dance with your beautiful companion."

Quickly and confidently, Anton grabs Cristina by the arm, scooting her away before Burke can even comment. Cristina looks over her shoulder and shoots Burke a reassuring look. Burke stands there, jaw clenched, as he tries to temper his growing dislike for the man who called his girlfriend beautiful three times in less than 10 minutes. He is not reassured.

"I have to warn you Preston, Anton loves beautiful, young surgeons" Burke turns and looks at Henri who is walking away in pursuit of a pretty blonde then looks back at Anton dancing a little too closely to a very comfortable looking Cristina.

Derek walks up to Burke and states the obvious "Preston, I believe you may have lost your date for the evening."

Burke looks down at Derek trying to hide his disappointment at being separated from Cristina "If you keep comments like that up Sheppard we're going back to using last names only."

"Seriously?"

Looking back at the dance floor, Burke catches Cristina's eyes fixed on him as Anton turns her around "It's one dance. Anyway, as long as she's going home with me I'm fine."

Burke watches them move on the dance floor staring in amazement at Cristina. If someone had told him that Cristina, the same woman who leaves a trail of wet towels, clothing, magazine and candy wrappers behind her on a regular basis would be speaking French like it was something she did everyday of her life he wouldn't have believed it. He couldn't believe that or that she was now schmoozing this guy like she'd known him for years. How did he not know this about her?

Faintly, he hears those around him expressing similar thoughts and as he looks around sees a stunned Elizabeth Riley take not one but two glasses of champagne off of the tray of a passing waiter and start drinking them. He couldn't help but laugh to himself at the bizarreness of it all. Cristina will have quite a story to tell her friends tomorrow.

Just then Addison walks up and leans over to Burke "And you were worried that she'd feel uncomfortable tonight why?"

Burke really didn't have a good answer for Addison. He was still trying to figure out if he was feeling jealous, proud or annoyed "You know Cristina…full of surprises" was the best he could come up with.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 **

The Chief was helping Adele with her coat to leave when he looked at the dance floor and saw that Cristina and Burke were one of a few couples still dancing. Adele put into words exactly what he was thinking "Preston and Cristina make a great looking pair don't they?"

Richard paused for a moment "They certainly seem to. They've been dancing for the past hour and it looks like they're going to close out the place."

"He looks at her like she's the only woman in the room. I never knew that Preston was such a romantic."

"Neither did I. I was worried the day he came into my office to tell me about their relationship but they seem to be doing okay. I've never seen him so happy…so at peace."

"She's got quite the spirit!"

"She certainly does and I'm sure that spirit will continue to keep Preston on his toes for years."

On the other side of the ballroom, Cristina and Burke danced as they had for the past hour stopping only to have polite conversation with a few people who dared to interrupt their fun. It was about halfway through the night that they had given up any appearance of formality and Cristina stopped worrying about what people would say, opting instead to enjoy their night out as a couple. They seemed to dance closer as the night wore on and now his head was perched on top of hers which rested on his shoulder. As they danced, Cristina thought about how she was proud of herself for tonight's victories. She had survived several hours in this alligator pit they called a fundraiser with only a minor scrape at the start of the evening and she considered Dr. Moliere a feather in her cap.

She was thinking about how much fun it would be to tell this story to Meredith tomorrow when she heard Burke's favorite song starting to play. The song was "At Last" by Etta James. He loved the blues.

Years ago, he made friends with a band that played at a local bar and sometimes he played his trumpet with them. Several times she'd met him there and each time right before they were leaving, he'd ask the band to play this song, scoot her off to dance in a corner of the bar and he would sing softly to her. After a couple of times, she'd asked him why he always did it. In a totally romantic way he had told her that he thought of it as their song because he was so happy she was in his life and neither of them was lonely anymore. Not giving into sentiment, she of course fought back with the argument that she was never lonely and he was just trying to get lucky. Since that night, she'd referred to "their song" as "his move".

_At last  
my love has come along  
my lonely days over  
and life is like a song …  
_

She pulled away from the singing Burke to look up at him "Trying to put the moves on me again, huh?"

He smiled forcing her to take note of his cute dimple "I'm ignoring that. You know you are amazing."

"I know"

"Moliere loved you."

"Of course he did. Jealous?"

"Cristina, half of the people in this room were jealous. That includes Elizabeth Riley."

"Seriously?"

"Cristina, Moliere switched our table so you could sit with him then rearranged his table so that you could sit next to him. You mesmerized the most prestigious guest, spoke to him in French, and looked stunning doing it. They had to practically drag him away from you."

Cristina stops dancing and looks up at him "They did, didn't they?" The bathroom incident was a faint memory to her now as her ego was practically bursting.

Burke pulls her closer to him and starts dancing again "Yes. Good thing he is leaving tomorrow or I might have some competition."

"Well he is the French Preston Burke!"

Burke has an edge to his voice now "He may be the French Burke but he's not your Burke. He was a little too friendly towards a woman he just met whose boyfriend was in the same room."

Cristina didn't want Burke to be upset but part of her was enjoying it "I so knew you were jealous!"

Smiling, she rested her head against his left shoulder, her right hand entwined with his hand perched against the right side of his chest. He smelled good.

Being so close to Cristina in public was nice but Burke was still preoccupied with Anton. They had had a wonderful time tonight. It was definitely better than he'd imagined. Why'd she have to be so damn beautiful. He casually asks her "So what did the two of you talk about anyway?"

Realizing that Burke was not letting this go, Cristina couldn't help but have some fun with it "Travel, food, how he wanted to have hot sex with me."

Cristina leans her head back as Burke yells "WHAT!" This time it is Burke who stops dancing and steps away from Cristina.

Seeing others looking at them she responds quietly "What do you mean what?

"What do you mean what do I mean? That's completely inappropriate. That's what I mean. Where is he?" Burke is scanning the almost empty room.

"He already left. Just calm down. People are staring. He's French. It's what they do"

She unwrapped her hand from his and put both of her arms around his waist pulling him so there was no distance between them. She couldn't help but laugh to herself as she felt the tension in his body.

"We also talked about what a great surgeon you are. I told him how people come from across the country just to have your hands touch them."

The usually unflappable Burke tries to regain his composure and change the subject "I didn't realize you were so fluent in French."

Cristina, not wanting to seem like she actually cared about the little tidbit she learned about him tonight, counters hesitantly "I didn't realize you were the most eligible bachelor in Seattle."

Cristina and Burke danced for a few minutes more, Cristina leaning her head on his shoulder as he softly sang in her ear. She loved that Burke did this although she had always been the one telling other guys that it was annoying. With Burke it was just one more thing that was different. He definitely wasn't like other guys and his singing never failed to make her stomach flutter.

_I found a dream  
that I could speak to  
a dream that I  
could call my own  
I found a thrill  
to press my cheek to  
a thrill that I have never known_

well

You smile  
you smile   
oh and then the spell was cast  
and here we are in heaven  
for you are mine at last

ooo yea  
you are mine  
you are mine  
at last  
at last  
at last  
at last  


As the song ended, Burke grabbed Cristina's hand pulling her onto the terrace.

Cristina giggles "Burke what are you doing?"

"Getting some air"

As is her usual, Cristina protests every step as Burke leads her towards the terrace "But it's …wow it's beautiful out here. You can even see the space needle."

"You really need to trust me more." He moves back so that he is standing behind her and when she turns to look at him she feels like she could drown in the love she sees in his eyes. It wasn't anything new though. The first time she remembered feeling that way was when she'd seen him at the hospital the day after he broke up with her. It seemed like such a long time ago now. She wouldn't have called it love then but there was something that drew their eyes to one another. She used to think of it as magnetic and it was always there even when they were mad at each other. Whenever their eyes caught each other, she could feel the connection so strongly that she'd swear each time she stopped breathing just for a second.

"If you're cold, you can have my jacket?" Burke starts taking it off and is stopped by Cristina.

"Mmmm. No keep it on. I think there's room for both of us in here." He had been lifting weights recently and she could feel the firmness of his arms and the cut of his muscles as she put her arms around him under his coat and moved one hand up the front of his chest. They were just looking at each other for a few minutes when she laid her head against his chest as she started to get a little nervous because he seemed to become serious when they came outside. Sometimes she wondered how she'd gotten so lucky then she, of course, had to remind herself that Cristina Yang did not believe in luck.

Burke was more than happy to keep her warm "Thank you for coming tonight. I know that you were uncomfortable about coming here with the whole in love with your boss thing."

Lifting her head up "Who said I was in love?"

Burke raises an eyebrow "Very funny. Addison told me what happened with Elizabeth and Barbara in the bathroom."

It surprised him that she was still staring up at him. There was a time, not too long ago, that he'd be looking down at the top of her head because she would be uncomfortable with the conversation. Tonight he was happy to be looking into her beautiful eyes. She spoke softly as she rarely did with anyone other than him "I didn't mean to embarrass you. Something just came over me."

"Embarrass me? Are you kidding? I'm proud of you. They should be the ones who are embarrassed."

This was not quite the reaction she was expecting "You are?"

"Always!"

Cristina hesitated a moment then gives him a tender kiss just barely brushing his lips "I'm glad I'm here." Cristina turned back around to look off the balcony and lets out a deep sigh of relief. Burke wrapped his arms around her lowering his head to kiss her neck "I thought you were cold."

"No, I was just trying to see if I could take advantage of you. This is a hotel isn't it?"

"What, now you think I'm easy?"

"Uh let me think about that…yes!"

He gives her a playful squeeze and they're both laughing when Burke dangles a hotel key in front of her.

Cristina turns her head slightly towards him "Oh, let me guess it's just a key right? Doesn't mean a thing."

Burke puts the key back in his pocket "No, it definitely means that I am trying to take advantage of the fact that I am not on-call and am at this spectacular hotel with my incredibly sexy girlfriend." Burke goes back to softly kissing Cristina's neck.

Cristina is squirming "It is hard to concentrate with you kissing me."

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No, I like it. Does our room have this view?"

"Yup."

"Okay I'm in. But it's only because of the view. And to think that all those people tonight were under the mistaken belief that you were such the gentleman."

"Uhhuh" he squeezes her tighter and nuzzles her neck whispering "You know that I am the lucky one, right?"

"Huh?" She turns towards him still in the cocoon of his arms and he continues

"I don't know what anyone thought before we came tonight but they don't know anything if they don't realize that I am the lucky one that you chose me."

As she stood there looking into his eyes, Cristina wasn't so convinced he was right but she knew he meant it and that was enough for her. Her relationship with Preston Burke had made her happier than she had been in a very long time.


End file.
